Marketing, advertising & media intelligence

Earlier this week, Oxford Dictionaries declared the 'Face with Tears of Joy’ emoji its word of the year. While certainly an unusual decision, those behind the publication justified it by pointing to the proliferation of these animated caricatures across all forms of communication in recent years. In addition to announcing its latest word of the year on its website, the team at Oxford Dictionaries also showed their quirkier side by releasing a video that imagines what emojis would be like if they appeared in real life.

The enormous growth in the use of emojis has coincided with an explosion of options available to users. These days, you have emojis of different races, robot emojis, lion emojis, cheese emojis and even bandaged head guy emojis to choose from. And the list goes on.

However, the job is still not done. There are many emojis yet to be created—and one of these is the condom emoji.

So in the lead up to World Aids Day on 1 December, Durex has launched a campaign calling for the creation of an emoji that can be used to request safe sex in pictorial form.

“Emojis of this sort will enable young people to overcome embarrassment around the discussion of safe sex, encourage conversation and raise awareness of the importance of using condoms in protecting against sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV and AIDS,” said Durex’s marketing director Karen Chisolm in a release.

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Why we like it: In a slightly dystopic and animalistic car spot, Mitsubishi has promoted its new Triton Huntaway II. The video sees the utetravelling over rugged Wellington terrain and highlights the vehicles multiple features. The campaign is based on exclusivity as Mitsubishi’s new ute has just 20 up for grabs. To provide further hype to its audience, the ad finishes with the line, “if you don’t catch it now, you won’t see it for dust”.

Who’s it for:2degrees by DDB

Why we like it:2degrees continue to expose the unusual nature of everyday gestures in its latest spot that lingers over three couples shaking hands. In a world of sloppy, or overly stiff hand-shakes, it is good to see the act of peace and trade be scrutinised. Described as ‘pumping someone up and down as if they are low on air’ the spot films handshakes in slow motion and scrutinises the instinctive way in which we communicate. The spot is a part of 2degrees ‘Second Nature’ campaign, which releases multiple ads and gives focus to the contribution of 2degrees in helping Kiwi businesses up and down the country.

Who’s it for: TVNZ by TVNZ’s Blacksand

Why we like it: Last week, Deadpool hijacked TVNZ’s brand assets, gate crashed multiple TVNZ channel idents and appeared in a Broadcasting Standards spot for TVNZ. The character, played by famous American actor Ryan Reynolds, saw a one-off opportunity for TVNZ, who utilised the sarcastic superhero across multiple platforms and programmes. The ads coincided with the release of Deadpool 2, which is currently on screen in cinemas.